NCAA Basketball: 2022 4-star guard J.J. Starling schedules 4 upcoming official visits

4-star NCAA Basketball recruit J.J. Starling will make four official visits in September

2022 4-start prospect J.J. Starling will complete his allotment of official visits by the end of September. Starling recently scheduled four upcoming visits starting with a trip to Notre Dame on Labor Day weekend. He will also make the jaunt to Syracuse, Northwestern, and Duke.

The 6-4 combo guard can really shoot it, whether off the dribble or catch. He also gets into the lane and finishes at the rim. Starling is average athletically but an excellent passer and has some nice handles.

The Central New York native is currently playing at La Lumiere School in Indiana. Starling is a consensus top-40  player in the class with 247 Sports Composite has him ranked at No. 35 and 247 Sports lists at No. 34. Meanwhile, he is No. 40 on Rivals list and ranked 28th by ESPN.

Starling had already made one of his allotted official visits when he traveled to Stanford. He also made official visits as a junior to Alabama, Maryland, UConn, and Syracuse.

Starling has not made a top or final list, and it is unknown whether he has set a timetable to make a decision. Here are looks at the eight schools that he has or will visit.

8. Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama appears to be more interested in 5-star guards Jaden Bradley and Nick Smith and 4-star combo guard Rodney Rice. In reality, the Crimson Tide are loaded at the guard positions, and the frontcourt is really a more “need” area.

7. Northwestern Wildcats

Northwestern has yet to offer a scholarship. He will visit the Evanston campus, Sept. 17-19. While the Wildcats need to add talent at the guard position, they brought in 3-star shooting guard Julian Ropert in 2021 and have a verbal commitment from 4-star point guard Rowan Brumbaugh.

6. UConn Huskies

Starling visited the Huskies on June 25-28. Hurley seems pretty interested in the Baldwinsville (NY) product, but the guard position is not currently a top need for the team. UConn has two verbal commits from the class of 2022 in forward Alex Karaban and 4-star center Donovan Clingan.

5. Maryland Terrapins

The Terps received Starling’s first visit. He is one of Mark Turgeon’s top targets.

"“Coach Turgeon’s message to me was that they want me to come in and be a scorer for them right off the bat because they know what I do best,”  Starling told Dushaun London of 247Sports. “They pretty much are trying to sway me into going to them by offering me minutes and stuff like that. Huerter who came out of City Rocks went there so I know coach Hart has a good relationship with him and I know they treated Huerter right and look at him now.”"

Guard is definitely an area of need as Fatts Russell and Xavier Green will be out of eligibility after this season, and Eric Ayala will be a senior next year.

4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Starling will visit the South Bend campus over Labor Day Weekend (Sept. 3-5). Mike Brey could really use some talent and depth almost everywhere.  Point guard is definitely a position of need as the Irish only guards currently on the roster are Prentiss Hubb, Robby Carmody, Dane Goodwin, Trey Wertz, Cormac Ryan, and Blake Wesley. Hubb, Carmody, Goodwin, and Wertz will be seniors next year, while Ryan will be a junior and Wesley will be a sophomore.

3. Stanford Cardinal

Starling recently visited the Cardinal campus. Stanford certainly needs to add some talent and depth to the guard position, with Noah Tailz, Michael O’Connell, Isael Silva, and Jarvis Moss being the only players on the depth chart.

2. Syracuse Orange

Starling will be making his second official visit to SU (Sept. 10-12). The Orange have made him a priority, and they have been recruiting him the longest. Jim Boeheim definitely could definitely add depth at guard next year, even though 4-star point guard Quadir Copeland has already committed. 6-6 wing Justin Taylor is the Orange’s other 2022 commit after Kamari Lands de-committed last week.

"“My relationship with them is a very strong relationship because I’ve known them for so long. It’s my hometown,” Starling previously said of Syracuse. “The relationship is definitely there and it’s strong. They text a lot, just checking in what to see how I’m doing, but not too much that it’s like they’re bugging me or anything, which they’re not of course. I definitely have a really strong relationship with coach G-Mac and coach Autry. It could be a variety of things. Sometimes they reach out to say ‘we need you’ or ‘we really want you’ but other times it could be in a joking manner. A few minutes ago, coach Autry reached out and we were talking about music. It’s just little things like that.”"

1. Duke Blue Devils

Starling’s last stop will be in Durham from Sept. 24-26. The Blue Devils, the last team to offer him (mid-June), have made Starling one of their top targets. Duke has a lot of talent at the guard position, but AJ Griffin, Jeremy Roach, and Trevor Keels could leave for the NBA. They do have a verbal commitment from 2022 5-star Dariq Whitehead.

Bottom Line:  Duke, Stanford, and Syracuse appear to have the inside track on Starling.  The Cuse has the homecourt advantage, but Starling seems to be extremely intrigued by the Blue Devils.